About Me
‘I started writing in my teens. After completing one novel and beginning a second I came to realise they would never be published – so I consigned reams of paper to the attic and got on with real life.
It was a sense of fair play that started me again. I’d been researching the British Cavalry of the Georgian and Regency periods (don’t ask – it’s a long story) and found that not one historian had a good word to say about them.
I read more and more, continually meeting the same old ‘galloping at everything’ attitude to horsemen – no -one seemed to have put the all the circumstances of so-called ‘cavalry disasters’ under a microscope.
Someone needed to write about how the British cavalry who fought against Napoleon really lived – and died. How they survived, in times of peace and war. How they saw what their commanders viewed as ‘disasters’. And how they celebrated their triumphs. It’d make a good novel, I thought.
So I started a story based on the lives of two of these men. And I’m still writing it.’
Jonathan Hopkins lives and works in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales. A keen rider, having done a variety of jobs he has spent the last twelve years as a professional saddle fitter and is Chairman of a BHS affiliated Riding Club.
In November 2010 he gave a lecture to the Napoleonic Association Annual Conference entitled ‘Researching and Writing a Historical Novel.’
Walls of Jericho, his first cavalry novel, was published in 2008. A sequel, Leopardkill, will be launched in September 2013 by Bretwalda Books and there are further stories in the pipeline.
Dear Jonathan,
CuChullaine O’Reilly of the Long Riders’ Guild here. I have enjoyed reading your blog for some time and am writing you now because I have valuable information regarding an incredible horse from the Napoloeonic war. I hope that you can spare a few minutes to drop me a line at my email address, as I am prepared to send you information and images which I believe you will find extraordinary.
Kind regards,
CuChullaine O’Reilly FRGS
http://www.thelongridersguild.com
http://www.horsetravelbooks.com
http://www.lrgaf.org
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Hi Jonathan. I think your website is great and we have had some great discussions on the Napoleonic Wars forum. So I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Just letting you know. It’s got a website and seems a fun way to show esteem.
Regards Josh.
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Thanks, Josh. Not sure about ‘versatile’, though I can blog left-handed while drinking a cup of tea 😉
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Wow, that is skill, if comment boxes made noises, this would be silent because I am in awe.
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That’s too much flattery for one day! 🙂
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Dear Sir, I am an Italian journatist working for the daily la Repubblica. I have a great passion for horses and cavalry and I find very interesting your website. I red you post about the saddle of light dragoons and I wish to show you a picture of a saddle designed for italian army in 1907. Please If you are interested contact me at l.fraioli@repubblica.it.
Best regards,
Luca Fraioli
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Thanks, Luca – I posted a quick reply on your other comment.
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Congrats on the second novel being picked up!
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Thank you!
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